By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, Reuters – An ex-banker from Goldman Sachs (NYSE) testified Tuesday that he was a Malaysian fugitive who claimed he had gained support from former President Donald Trump to settle a probe into looting funds from 1MDB’s sovereign wealth fund.

Tim Leissner shared a glimpse into what Jho Low, a former Goldman banker, had said to him regarding the attempt deal on the sixth day. Ng (49) has pleaded no guilty to the charges of conspiracy to launder money, and violating an anti-bribery statute.

Leissner is a Goldman former partner and stated that there was no independent verification.

Leissner stated that Low was the man behind the scheme and that he told him that he had spoken to Low at a meeting in 2017 that Low and his attorneys were discussing a multibillion-dollar deal with Trump that could protect several individuals from U.S. prosecutions.

Leissner stated that Jo was very comfortable and confident.

Low said that he was in Beijing with Jared Kushner who is Trump’s son and hired Chris Christie as his lawyer. Leissner stated that Christie was a former Republican governor of New Jersey.

Christie stated that Low was represented by him in civil forfeiture cases in California. Low turned over $700,000,000 to the U.S. Department of Justice. According to him, he did not agree to pay a fee for dropping charges in return for payment to U.S. governments.

Christie released a statement saying that no agreement was made between Christie and Trump Administration members regarding the drop of criminal investigations or dismissal of any charges against Mr. Low, or other defendants in return for payment to government. There was no agreement to pay me a legal fee for reaching such a conclusion.

Kushner was not available for comment.

Low, who was charged by Brooklyn federal prosecutors in 2018 has yet to be arrested either by the U.S. nor Malaysian authorities. Malaysia asserts that Low is currently in China. Beijing disputes this assertion.

Prosecutors allege that Goldman was responsible for 1MDB’s $6.5billion raise, however $4.5billion of the funds went to officials, bankers, and associates. In 2020, the bank paid a $3B fine to Malaysia and its Malaysian subsidiary pleaded guilty in U.S. courts.